Rent Act 1977

Section 55.

SCHEDULE 8 Phasing of Rent Increases: General Provisions

Interpretation

1 (1) In this Schedule—

• " noted amount " means an amount noted under paragraph 2(1) below;

• " period of delay " means, subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, a period of 2 years beginning with the date of registration of a rent, whether before or after the coming into force of this Act;

• " permitted increase " means the amount by which the rent for any period may be increased ;

• " previous rent limit " means, subject to sub-paragraphs (3) and (4) below, the amount which at the date of registration was recoverable by way of rent or would have been so recoverable upon service of a notice or notices of increase;

• " registered ", in relation to a rent, means registered under Part IV of this Act and "registration" shall be construed accordingly;

• " service element " means any amount calculated under paragraph 2 below;

• " services " means services provided by the landlord or a superior landlord;

• " specified sum " means £0.40 per week for a period which falls within the first year of the period of delay and £0.80 per week for a period which falls within the second year.

(2) In the case of a rent registered on or after 8th March 1974 but before 10th March 1975, the period of delay shall be taken to have begun on the later date.

(3) Where the rent includes an amount payable in respect of rates, the previous rent limit shall be decreased by the amount so payable, ascertained in accordance with Schedule 5 to this Act.

(4) Where the rent under a tenancy was rendered partly irrecoverable by an order under section 11 of the [1973 c. 9.] Counter-Inflation Act 1973, the previous rent limit is an amount equal to the part of the rent which was recoverable immediately before 10th March 1975.

(5) An order may substitute for the specified sum, in relation to the first year of the period of delay or the second, or to the whole period, a sum other than the sum mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) above.

(6) An order under sub-paragraph (5) above shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

Service element

2 (1) Where—

(a) the registered rent includes a payment in respect of services, and

(b) the rent is not registered as a variable rent in accordance with section 71(4) of this Act, but

(c) not less than 5 per cent. of the amount of the registered rent is in the opinion of the rent officer or rent assessment committee fairly attributable to the services,

the amount so attributable shall be noted in the register.

(2) In the Cases mentioned in the first column of the Table below, the amount of the service element shall be calculated as specified in the second column.

TABLE

CALCULATION OP SERVICE ELEMENT

Case	Service element
Case A. A specified amount or proportion was in the previous rent limit attributable to the provision of services, and came to less than the noted amount.	The service element is the difference between the amount or proportion and the noted amount
Case B. No amount or proportion attributable to the provision of services is specified, but an amount less than the noted amount appears to the rent officer or rent assessment committee to have been attributable to such provision.	The service element is the difference between— (a) an amount bearing to the previous rent limit the same proportion as the noted amount bears to the registered rent, and (b) the noted amount.
Case C. No amount appears to the rent officer or rent assessment committee to have been attributable in the previous rent limit to the provision of services.	The service element is the noted amount.

(3) The amount of the service element shall be recorded in the register, and in Case C above may be recorded by adding to the note under sub-paragraph (1) above a statement that the noted amount is the service element.

General formulae for calculating increases in rent

3 (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (4) below, the permitted increase is an increase to an amount calculated in accordance with the formula set out in sub-paragraph (2) or (3) below, where—

• PRL is the previous rent limit,

• SE is the service element,

• RR is the registered rent, and

• SS is the specified sum.

(2) The permitted increase for a period which falls within the first year of the period of delay is an increase to the greater of the following amounts, namely—

(a) PRL+SE+ 1/3 [RR-(PRL+SE)];

(b) PRL+SE+SS.

(3) The permitted increase for a period which falls within the second year of the period of delay is an increase to the greater of the following amounts, namely—

(a) PRL+SE+ 2/3 [RR-(PRL+SE)];

(b) PRL+SE+SS.

(4) The maximum permitted increase by virtue of this Schedule is an increase to the registered rent.

Subsequent registrations

4 (1) Where the registration of the rent is in a period of delay beginning with an earlier registration—

(a) from the date of the registration the limitation under the period of delay beginning with the earlier registration shall cease to apply ; and

(b) a fresh period of delay shall begin with the later registration.

(2) This Schedule shall apply in relation to any such case as if the previous rent limit were the aggregate of the limit at the date of the earlier registration and any addition permitted under this Schedule in the portion of the earlier period of delay which elapsed before the later registration.

Amounts to be noted on certificate of fair rent

5 Where the rent specified in a certificate of fair rent includes a payment in respect of services and the amount which in the opinion of the rent officer or rent assessment committee is fairly attributable to the provision of the services is not less than 5 per cent. of the amount of the rent, then, if the applicant so requests, the amount so attributable shall be noted in the certificate of fair rent together with the amount of the service element.

General

6 The amount of any service element or of any amount sought to be noted in the register or in the certificate of fair rent in pursuance of this Schedule shall be included among the matters with respect to which representations may be made or consultations are to be held or notices given under Parts I and II of Schedule 11, and under Schedule 12 to this Act.

7 In ascertaining for the purposes of this Schedule whether there is any difference between amounts, or what that difference is, such adjustments shall be made as may be necessary to take account of periods of different lengths; and for that purpose a month shall be treated as one-twelfth and a week as one-fifty-second of a year.

8 (1) Where a registration takes effect from a date earlier than the date of registration, references in this Schedule to the date of registration shall nonetheless be references to the later date.

(2) Where a rent determined by a rent assessment committee is registered in substitution for a rent determined by a rent officer, the preceding provisions of this Schedule shall have effect as if only the rent determined by the rent assessment committee had been registered, but the date of registration shall be deemed for the purposes of this Schedule (but not for the purposes of section 45(3) of this Act) to be the date on which the rent determined by the rent officer was registered.

9 This Schedule is subject to paragraph 3 of Schedule 20 to this Act.

10 Where any provision of this Schedule imposes a rent limit for a statutory period, or part of a statutory period, falling within the period of delay, section 45(2) of this Act shall have effect as if for references to the registered rent there were substituted references to that rent limit.